Sri Lanka: Moors remind Colts of the glorious uncertainties (7 January 1999)
High riding Colts realised the glorious uncertainties of cricket when they lost their opening match of the Premier championships going down on the first innings to Moors SC over the weekend
07-Jan-1999
7 January 1999
Sri Lanka: Moors remind Colts of the glorious uncertainties
By Sa'adi Thawfeeq
High riding Colts realised the glorious uncertainties of cricket when
they lost their opening match of the Premier championships going down
on the first innings to Moors SC over the weekend.
Barely a week had elapsed since they pocketed their first ever
one-day limited overs title beating SSC in the final underlights,
when they were brought down to earth by a fighting Moors unit led by
former Tamil Union and Sri Lanka opener Chandika Hathurusingha.
The rain-hit game saw Colts finish the first day promisingly placed
at 94 for one. But after a blank second day, Moors came back
magnificently to capture the remaining nine wickets for a meagre 39
runs. Left with only a total of 133 to chase, Moors began
disastrously losing their first four wickets for 50 runs, and then
being reduced to 92 for 7, before Hathurusingha in liaison with the
younger Bandaratilake, Charith (the elder Niroshan is leading Tamil
Union) steered them to a memorable victory. Moors eventually finished
on 200 for 9 with Hathurusingha leading from the front taking four
important wickets and scoring a useful 40.
It was a fine start for Moors, who under Hathurusingha's leadership
made it to the semi-finals of the competition last season.
With all facilities against bad weather available at their disposal,
SSC still had to be content with only first innings points against
BRC. SSC made a strong effort to obtain full points, but the BRC tail
hung on to deprive them of that satisfaction.
SSC's victorious under 24 captain Mahela Jayawardene began the
first-class part of the season by scoring the solitary century of the
weekend. It was around his knock of 129 that SSC built their total of
304. Former Sri Lankan batsman Sanjeeva Ranatunga also made a
worthwhile contribution scoring 80 in a fourth wicket partnership of
115 with Jayewardene.
In the absence of their main strike bowlers, Wickremasinghe, Zoysa,
and the two Pereras - Suresh and Ruchira, SSC's bowling was short of
quality and although they bowled out BRC for 196 in the first innings
and made early inroads into their batting in the second, they were
unable to finish the job off.
CCC under a new captain Bradman Weerakoon came agonisingly close to
grabbing first innings points against Tamil Union, but fell short of
overs. Their bowlers spearheaded by medium-pacer T. Sanjaya (5/32)
dismissed the home team for a moderate 146, but they were frustrated
by the weather when they began their reply. Eventually, CCC were 14
runs adrift with seven wickets intact when the overs ran out.
NCC were another club who were deprived of first innings points by
the weather. Chasing Bloomfield's total of 238, NCC were 48 runs
short with half their side still to bat. The match was notable for
the bowling of former Sri Lankan left-armer Sajeeva de Silva, who
took four wickets and the batting of NCC's acting captain Russel
Arnold, who was 18 runs short of three-figures when the match ended.
Bad weather also deprived exciting finishes to two matches.
Sebastianites were three wickets away from taking first innings
points from Panadura SC, who required 44 runs to turn tables at
Moratuwa, while down at Matara, the home team were six down for 111
chasing Antonians total of 187.
Sebastianites skipper S.K. Silva and S. Jayawardena for Panadura took
the batting honours with half-centuries apiece, while the bowling was
shared by Panadura captain Kapila Silva and Sebastianites leg-spinner
Nimesh Perera with four wickets each.
After all the controversy churned out in the first two days, Galle
CC's fixture against Singha SC ended in a disappointing note when
rain prevented a single ball being bowled on the final day. The match
began in controversial circumstances with the pitch not being in
suitable condition to start play. Much valuable time was lost in
bringing it to some stage where play could possibly begin. Eventually
when the match began, it ran into further trouble when one of the
umpires had to urgently return to Colombo during the course of the
innings. This resulted in the visiting team's refusal to continue the
match until a proper replacement umpire arrived.
The bottom line to the whole fiasco is that certain clubs are trying
to seek postponement of their matches so as to request a replay later
in the tournament which would give them an undue advantage over other
clubs. The tournament committee should keep itself aware of various
ruses which fringe clubs will try to adopt during the season to avoid
relegation.
At the completion of the season, the bottom four clubs will be
relegated to the lower ranks and only the top 12 clubs will compete
in the Premier championships in future.
Worst hit by the weather was the fixture between Kurunegala YCC and
Police SC at the Welagedera Stadium where not a ball was bowled on
all three days.
Premier Championship Standings
The following are the Premier Championship standings at the
completion of the first weekend of matches on Jan 4:
P WOR W1st LOR L1st ND Btng Bwlg Pts SSC 1 0 1 0 0 0 2.320 1.8 12.120 Moors SC 1 0 1 0 0 0 1.000 1.0 10.000 BRC 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.480 1.4 2.880 NCC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.955 1.0 1.955 Sebastianites 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.130 0.7 1.830 Panadura SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.915 0.8 1.715 Bloomfield 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.190 0.5 1.690 CCC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.665 1.0 1.665 Matara SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.555 1.0 1.555 Antonian SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.935 0.6 1.535 Colts 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.565 0.9 1.465 Tamil Union 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.730 0.3 1.030 Galle CC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 1.0 1.000 Singha SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.820 0.0 0.820 Kurunegala YCC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.0 0.000 Police SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.0 0.000
(Suject to confirmation)
Highest Individual Innings: 129 - Mahela Jayawardene, SSC v BRC at
Maitland Place on Jan. 2.
Fastest Century: 136 balls (163 mins) - Mahela Jayawardene, SSC v
BRC at Maitland Place on Jan 2.
Best Innings Bowling: 5/32 - T. Sanjaya, CCC v Tamil Union at Sara
Stadium on Jan. 3.
Highest Innings Total: 304 - SSC v BRC at Maitland Place on Jan. 2.
Lowest Innings Total: 133 - Colts v Moors SC at Braybrooke Place on
Jan. 3.
Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)